Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group said on Monday it will receive $2.39 million in compensation from the Vietnamese government and a Vietnamese insurance firm for damages incurred during anti-China protests in May.

Formosa's Vietnam unit, which is building a steel project and whose shares are not listed, had been targeted in the protests by Vietnamese workers. The workers had mistakenly believed that Formosa was a China-based company.

Hanoi will pay $1.44 million of the total sum this week, a spokesman for the Formosa unit said, and the remaining $948,000 will be paid out in instalments by a Vietnamese insurance firm.

Formosa is the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, local media have said.

The protests were sparked after Chinese state oil companies moved an offshore drilling rig into water off Vietnam's coast to drill an exploratory well.